Last Week in ConTech - 30 October 2023
Changes to the Davis-Bacon act present an opportunity for ConTech startups
ConTech Roundup - Startup funding & news and acquisitions that was important this week in Construction Technology. No fluff. No hype.
Last Week in ConTech - 30 October 2023
Based on feedback I’ve added a Policy & Regulatory Changes section below. The goal is to capture the latest policy changes which could impact the Construction Technology ecosystem. Please reply and let me know if there is anything you want added to the newsletter!
Startup Funding
Construction
OnsiteIQ, a New York startup, raised $14m in Series B funding. They provide construction staging and progress checks for real estate investors by using ‘capture specialists’ to take 360-degree videos which are mapped to architectural plans. This provides a comprehensive record of progress which is used for payment and change order verification. More here.
Transport
Miovision, a Canadian startup, raised an additional CAD$36m funding. They enable cities to reduce traffic congestion and emissions through the delivery of intelligent transport solutions. More here.
Mapping
AirWorks, a Boston startup, raised $15m in funding. They provide geospatial data processing and analysis using AI to quickly produce line marking. More here.
Note: This solution saves time in drafting by being able to quickly convert raw LiDAR survey data or satellite imagery into line marking/features in CAD files which are used in construction drawings.
Buildings
HqO, a Boston startup, raised $50m in Series D funding. Their software allows building owners to better understand and measure how employees use their buildings. More here.
Decarbonization
Vivid Edge, an Irish startup, raised €500k in funding. They provide decarbonization as a service for large organizations by offering turnkey solutions. More here.
Drones
FlyGuys, a Louisiana startup, raised $10m in Series A funding. They have built a network of drone pilots providing aerial data, drone inspections and surveying services for clients. More here.
Energy
Eavor, a Canadian startup raised CAD$182m in funding. They have developed a geothermal energy system to provide a clean and resilient source of energy. More here.
Omnidian, a Seattle startup, raised $25m in funding. They manage solar power performance and maintenance for commercial and residential installations. More here.
Policy & Regulatory changes
The US federal government plans to define what a ‘zero-emissions’ building is as part of a push to address the building sector’s contribution to climate change. (Washington Post, paywall)
The new building standard is rumoured to have three pillars:
Buildings are to be energy efficient
Produce no onsite emissions
Use 100% renewable energy
Sustainable building legislation currently differs from state to state:
California’s standards required new residential buildings to be “zero net energy” as of 2020, and require the same for commercial buildings by 2030.
New York City’s landmark law in 2019 required most buildings over 25,000 square feet to reduce their emissions 40 percent by 2030 and 80 percent by 2050.
Related: The EU requires the worst 15% of buildings in terms of energy efficiency are to be retrofitted this decade
As mentioned in this issue HVAC startup funding is surging as a result of this policy especially in the category of heat pumps. Heat pumps are 3x more efficient than traditional fossil fuel boilers and an important part of building decarbonization.
The Davis-Bacon Act changes (US) present a chance for startups to disrupt construction tech (TechCrunch, paywall | Lexology - breakdown of the changes)
The Davis-Bacon Act, originally enacted in 1931, mandates that contractors involved in federal construction projects must pay their workers prevailing local wages and fringe benefits.
The update makes the prevailing wage equivalent to the wage paid to at least 30% of the workers rather than the weighted average wage rate based on geographic areas.
The update also expands coverage for work which takes place at ‘secondary construction sites’ to cover modular construction (where parts of the build are conducted offsite and assembled on site).
There are broad implications as construction payroll involves multiple components such as certified payroll, minimum wage, prevailing wage and union rates which vary state by state. This can result in varying pay rates for the same work depending on project location.
Compliance with the act also requires construction firms to classify their workers based on the work they perform.
New Funds & Acquisitions
VentureOn Partners, an Australian SaaS investor acquires Story Bridge Ventures to expand into PropTech and ConTech. More here.
Heidelberg Materials, a German building materials company has made an offer for the North American arm of Cementos Argos, a Columbian cement maker. More here.
Accenture acquired Comtech Group, a Toronto company providing consulting and program management for infrastructure projects. More here.
Wind Point Partners acquired Central Moloney, an Arkansas company making infrastructure products for the U.S. electrical grid. More here.
Note: As mentioned in the last issue, due to the rise of electrification (homes, mobility, buildings) there is increased energy demands which (based on current grid supply) cannot be met. To meet this demand, the Western markets require efficient methods for cross border sourcing and procurement.
News
The US has committed $3.5b to improve grid infrastructure.
There is a rise in renewable energy projects however there is a backlog in connections to the transmission grids.
These grids must be rapidly expanded and cannot currently meet the increasing demand for clean electricity from electric cars to heating buildings.
Solving the Construction Worker Shortage ( Thesis Driven -
. Highly recommend subscribing to his newsletter if you have not already)My manifesto 1/5: Design tooling for next-gen AEC and manufacturing (Foundamental)
Summary from the article:New technology and functionalities for CAD software has emerged.
Legacy software providers can’t keep up with the changes and are unable to modernize their tech stack.
New software is significantly faster in adoption new functionalities than legacy tools resulting in traction (think browser based, collaborative and using AI).
Venture Capitalists have increased funding by 10x compared to the 50+ years before.
As legacy software has validated the workflow and market size, every tool will face a modern competitor.
Due to labor shortages, 3D/CAD software spend per architect and engineer is expected to double and more is expected from the tools.
Estonia’s capital made mass transit free a decade ago. Car traffic went up
Emerging markets need $1.5 trillion to make buildings greener - World Bank's IFC
CEMEX revealed its 2023 ConTech startup competition winners
The winners are:Civ Robotics - This US startup builds robots to automate construction layouts focusing on solar farm and road projects.
Construex - This Ecuadorian startup is building a construction marketplace in Latin America (this is an example of a Procurement and supply chain management solutions ConTech model as described in last issue).
Firstplanit - This UK startup’s platform provides designers, developers and manufacturers with insights on the environment, social, health and monetary benefits of building materials and products.
Frontline - This Singapore startup provides construction planning simulation and identifies the optimal activity sequencing and resource allocation for projects.
FYLD - This UK startup provides real time remote site visibility to construction operations.
RodRadar - This Israel startup has developed an excavator bucket which automatically detects underground utility infrastructure in real time during excavation to reduce utility strikes.
Note: It is very common on site to hit/find underground utilities which have not been documented on site plans which is a safety risk and interrupts site operations. This solution provides an additional layer of safety.sensmore - This German startup uses radar technology and AI to support automation of heavy machinery in severe conditions in contrast to vision based systems.
Vizcab - This French startup provides information on the embodied carbon impact of materials and Life Cycle Assessments (LCA) to assist the design of low carbon buildings.
If I missed anything this week, please reply and let me know! I’ll make sure to include it next week